


India Ink

by Comatosejoy



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Haruno Sakura-centric, Love, no longer a one shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:28:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22212586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Comatosejoy/pseuds/Comatosejoy
Summary: “Sakura,” his voice rang out from above. She stopped dead in her tracks. He had always had a physical effect on her.Takes place during episode 52 and 53 of Shippuden, focusing on Sakura's thoughts and reaction to seeing Sasuke for the first time in years.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke
Comments: 3
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter 1

“Sakura,” his voice rang out from above. She stopped dead in her tracks. He had always had a physical effect on her. When they were children, just his acknowledgement was enough produce so much dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine in her brain that she’d be love drunk for a full week. This wasn’t that. She felt sick. She felt like she’d been sucker punched. 

She dared to look up. He was bathed in shadow so she allowed herself to remember his eyes, black as pots of India ink, looking back at her as she pleaded with him not to leave. It was a mistake to think of it. She regretted it instantly, her stomach so twisted that her breaths became shorter. 

And now he’s close to Naruto, toying with the idea of killing him, but seeing them together is too familiar. She expected their bickering to begin, she expected to see a good-natured smirk dance at the corner of Sasuke’s mouth as he tries to maintain his cool facade. She watched him lie, saying the only bond he ever felt was one of hate and it was for Itachi, saying that he doesn’t need to explain himself to Naruto.

She ran at him, her chakra vibrating, fulling expecting his Sharingan to anticipate her move. Fully expecting to look into India ink as she breathes her last breath. But Yamato meets him quicker than she could and takes the blow for her. It’s a blow he can actually survive. 

Naruto grimaces at Sasuke. _Why do this?_ he asks. Orochimaru just wants your body. Sasuke answers that he’d do anything to kill Itachi. If the situation weren’t so dire, Sakura might have laughed. It was oddly close to what Naruto had said just an hour earlier, about going to the ends of the earth to kill Orochimaru and get Sasuke back. 

Sasuke falls back, performing the hand signs to kill them all at once. Sakura regrets not running faster earlier. She regrets not dying within inches of him. 

Not loving him enough right then.

Not loving him enough when she was trying to convince him not to leave.

Not being able to take his pain away, shoulder it herself. 

And before the last hand sign is performed, Sasuke is stopped by the most vile thing in the world, followed by the second most vile. And the most vile thing tells Sasuke not to kill her. They disappear with Sasuke in a burst of flame.

She hears Naruto sobbing. She wants to hold him, to sob too. But she promised Naruto that she’d get stronger, so she clenches her fists instead. She remembers back when she was stupid enough to fantasize about Sasuke coming home. In her mind, his apology would be inadequate for the pain he had put her through, but she’d throw her arms around him all the same. Tears welled up in her eyes as she told Naruto that they just needed to work harder next time. This isn’t over. 

She walks home slowly beside Naruto. Sai and Yamato stay a good several meters ahead. They do not exchange words, but the shared agony they feel is enough to bond them for life. She couldn’t have picked a better teammate to go through this with. When the two finally walk through the gates of the village, her resolve is hardened. Next time she sees Sasuke, she will bring him back or she will die trying.


	2. Rubble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How do you quantify heartbreak? How do you look at rubble and imagine the structure that was once there? Can you rebuild? 
> 
> Takes place during Shippuden 142

How do you look at rubble and imagine the structure that was once there? 

Sakura stood in the rubble, knowing that Sasuke had stood there and she had been too late. She put her hand against a standing wall, glancing down at the rain that must have washed Itachi’s blood away. Was she imagining it, or was the wall still warm from him leaning against it as the battle concluded? She was imagining it. 

To her, everything looked greyscale, especially in this rain. The concrete, the sky, the shinobi, the chakra. It all looked the same. As they spread out to look for him, she dared to breathe his name; to clutch her heart. She was alone, after all. She knew she would return empty-handed, so to speak, as would all her comrades. And so she did. 

She looked at the ruins of the Uchiha fortress. She hears Kakashi’s voice, then Naruto’s. She doesn’t need to listen to know what they’ve said.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura will not again make the mistake of thinking her love alone is enough to change anything. But her Will of Fire sure as hell will be. 
> 
> Takes place during episode 206 of Shippuden.

Sakura imagines a nice life as she walks. A normal life. No passion, but loving nonetheless. The further she walks, the more resolved she is. Hinata will get over it. Sasuke will never know. Naruto will be elated. He won’t know it’s a lie. And she’s certain she’ll convince herself over time. They’ll have one child, as all shinobi do in case of wartime, and send it to the academy. She’ll retire from missions when they have their child, maybe she’ll teach medical ninjutsu. 

And, blessedly, Naruto will be alive. The village will still have their hero jinchūriki, and he will be safe from the Akatsuki. 

She admonishes herself as she grows closer to her destination for her inner turmoil. In truth, anyone would be lucky to be with Naruto. She is no martyr for accepting the love of the hero of the village. It shouldn’t feel like such a sacrifice to forsake someone who forsook her long ago. 

So she approaches him, with the word _whore_ briefly coming to mind as she begins to lie. But Naruto isn’t as dumb as he used to be, and frankly she’s shocked that she could have miscalculated so profoundly. She wants him to come back to the village, she wants her love to be enough to convince him. Tears well in her eyes as she remembers the last time she tried to convince someone to turn around and go back to the village. Her love hadn’t been enough then, either. This time, she will be the one to leave. She turns on her heel, stung by rejection, and marches away. She knows what she must do now. Sakura will not again make the mistake of thinking her love alone is enough to change anything. But her Will of Fire sure as hell will be.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When will this end? Sakura saw what he turned that Uchiha fortress into. She knows of the corpses he has left behind.
> 
> Takes place during episode 212 and 214 of Shippuden.

When will this end? Itachi is dead, and Sasuke did not come home and did not seek forgiveness for abandoning the village. He delved further into darkness, with new vendettas and hatred that calcified his heart. Sakura saw what he turned that Uchiha fortress into. She knows of the corpses he has left behind. Will it end when the village, too, is rubble? How many comrades must fall to sate Sasuke’s appetite for vengeance? The memory of who Sasuke was will no longer be disgraced by the criminal he has become. It will end today, with her kunai piercing his throat. 

Sakura thinks of the kunoichi who lost their husbands to missions. Will she mourn as they do? Will her life change at all? She will still wake up every day alone, she will still practice medical ninjutsu, still stroll through the village by herself in the evenings, still go on missions, stand in Lady Tsunade’s office for briefings. The only difference will be that while she does those things, she will be acutely aware of the fact that Sasuke is not simultaneously also waking alone and going about his life. When she thinks about it, though, she’s done nothing but mourn since the day he left.

He doesn’t sense her chakra as she approaches the bridge. He is standing over a woman, chidori channelled around his hand, as Sakura mouth opens to stop him before her brain has a chance to catch up. The person before her looks just like Sasuke. His voice carries the same timbre. His posture, the sway of his shoulders as he walks, the slight wrinkle in his brow, are all identical to the boy she remembers. But the person before her is not Sasuke. She doesn’t recognize the man she loved at all. So when he says he wants to destroy the village, Sakura realizes the futility of revenge. Sasuke will never be satisfied. He will turn the world to ash if he isn’t stopped, and standing in ash he will look for more things to destroy. 

She had expected her stomach to drop when she saw his shape in the distance. It hadn’t. She had expected her knees to go weak, her voice to crack as she spoke to him. She thought she would have to fight back hot and embarrassing tears as she asked to join him, but her voice remained steady and her eyes stayed dry. Maybe that’s how he knew she was lying. Maybe he’d planned to kill her regardless as a way of hedging his bets. She spins around, realizing what Sasuke is about to do, her eyes going wide at the blue emanating from his hands before Kakashi’s body is suddenly between them. 

Sasuke looks like a madman, his eyes wide and darting around, ranting and raving about revenge. Kakashi tells her to take the woman at her feet away to heal her. He gives her a reassuring smile, and Sakura can’t help but feel angry. Angry that she couldn’t kill Sasuke, angry that Kakashi might die trying. Angry that every time she sees Sasuke, he tries to hurt her. The tears are coming freely now as she begins healing the woman. She repeats it in her head like a mantra: _When will this end?_


End file.
